The business behind Michelin stars

Michelin is probably best known as the company that bestows stars on restaurants to signify their excellence. Gordon Ramsay, awarding the Michelin stars for UK & Ireland 2019, described the event last week as the "Oscars of the restaurant industry". The late Joël Robuchon, the world's most Michelin star-decorated chef, claimed the stars were financially transformative. "With one Michelin star, you get about 20% more business. Two stars, you do about 40% more business, and with three stars, you'll do about 100% more business," he told Food & Wine magazine last year. Then there's the business of taking stars away.